This past April, MakerBot asked makers to share their most important 3D design or 3D printing milestones on social media with a chance at winning a MakerBot Replicator® Desktop 3D Printer. Judges selected the winners based on ingenuity, creativity, real-world impact, design, and the role of 3D printing.
Youth for Technology and 3D Africa
3D Africa is a program started by the non-profit Youth for Technology that’s teaching girls to use 3D printing technology. By having girls design and 3D print jewelry, art, phone cases, and more, 3D Africa’s goal is to close the huge gender gap in STEM learning. Because 3D printing can also teach entrepreneurial skills and manufacturing, 3D Africa is also bridging education and employment.
August Deshais, Teacher at Ridgewood Elementary
As a teacher at Ridgewood Elementary in Eureka, California, August Deshasis, aka Mr. Kindergarten, has big plans for both his students and school. The Humboldt County Teacher of the Year is integrating MakerBot’s 3D Printers into STEM learning challenges.
Erica Charbonneau, Masters of Design at OCAD University
For recent graduate Erica Charbonneau, the FiGO Rear Support Pet Wheelchair is more than a master’s thesis. Modelled in OpenSCAD and 3D printed on her university’s MakerBot Replicator 2X, the FiGO just may be a viable product for disabled pets in the future. It can be customized for each pet and created anywhere there’s a 3D printer.
